Tuesday, 31 May 2016

Colne Spring Ale

I’ve been making some sweeps through the newspaper archive. And finding some useful stuff. Including, surprisingly, price lists.

I’ve written about Benskins legendary Colne Spring Ale several times before. I’m saddened that I never got to taste it. But I was heartened to spot it in a Benskins advert from 1890. But looking a little more closely, it told me something very surprising.

What style was Colne Spring Ale? Barley Wine? Old Ale? No. According to Benskins, it was a Mild Ale.

I’m glad of two things: that they numbered their beers and that they grouped them by style. The numbering means that I can be sure that XXXXA Ale and Colne Spring Ale are the same thing. Who would have thought Colne Spring Ale was a type of Mild?

The price list also tells me something I’d long suspected: that Cooper was just the name for bottled Porter. Nice to have that confirmed.

Here’s my guess at the OGs, based around 1055º being the gravity of a beer costing 36s per barrel.

beer

price per barrel

est. OG

No. 1 Indian
Pale Ale

54

1082.5

No. 2 Guinea
Ale

42

1064.2

No. 3 Pale Ale

36

1055.0

No. 4 XXXXA
Ale

72

1110.0

No. 4 XXXX Ale

60

1091.7

No. 5 XXX Ale

54

1082.5

No. 6 XX Ale

36

1055.0

No. 7 Double
Stout

54

1082.5

No. 8 Single
Stout

42

1064.2

No. 9 Porter

36

1055.0

The gravity is too high for the Indian Pale Ale. You had to pay a premium for IPA. My guess would be that the OG was really around 1065º.

I remember drinking Clone Spring in the late 60s. It was I recall sold as a barley wine and was a rich brown Ruby red beer in the glass. It was sweet and fruity. I have not drunk anything like it since. I have an empty nip bottle and Benskins describe it as specially strong.